Speculative branch handling for transaction abort

ABSTRACT

Embodiments relate to speculative branch handling for transaction abort. An aspect includes detecting a beginning of a current execution of a transaction. Another aspect includes, based on detecting the beginning of the transaction, disabling speculative execution based on branch prediction of an initial branch instruction of the transaction, wherein the initial branch instruction branches to two possible paths, and wherein a first path of the two possible paths comprises an abort handler. Another aspect includes disabling updating of a history table for the initial branch instruction.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates generally to transaction handling in acomputing system, and more specifically, to speculative branch handlingfor transaction abort.

A transaction is a set of operations that transforms data from one stateto another. A transaction typically includes a section of program codeor a set of program instructions. In a transactional memory system,concurrent transactions are speculatively executed, and changes to datathat are performed by non-conflicting transactions may be committedafter completion. A conflict may occur when two or more concurrenttransactions access similar pieces of data, such as word, block, object,etc. from a memory, and at least one memory access is a write access.When a transaction completes, the architectural changes made by thetransaction are validated, and if validation is successful, the changesare made permanent, and the transaction is referred to as a committedtransaction. If a transaction cannot be committed due to conflicts, thetransaction is aborted, and any changes made by the execution of theinstructions in the transaction are rolled back. The aborted transactionmay then be re-executed from the beginning until the transactionsucceeds.

A transactional memory system can be implemented in the form of hardwareor software, or a combination of both. Hardware transactional memorysystems include modifications to the processors, caches, and busprotocols to support transactions. Software transactional memory systemprovides transactional memory semantics in a software runtime library.

SUMMARY

Embodiments include a method, system, and computer program product forbranch handling for transaction abort. An aspect includes detecting abeginning of a current execution of a transaction. Another aspectincludes, based on detecting the beginning of the transaction, disablingspeculative execution based on branch handling of an initial branchinstruction of the transaction, wherein the initial branch instructionbranches to two possible paths, and wherein a first path of the twopossible paths comprises an abort handler. Another aspect includesdisabling updating of a history table for the initial branchinstruction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter which is regarded as embodiments is particularlypointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion ofthe specification. The forgoing and other features, and advantages ofthe embodiments are apparent from the following detailed descriptiontaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 depicts a computer system for speculative branch handling fortransaction abort in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 2 depicts a plurality of transactions and an abort handler inaccordance with an embodiment; and

FIG. 3 depicts a process flow for speculative branch handling fortransaction abort in accordance with an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of speculative branch handling for transaction abort areprovided, with exemplary embodiments being discussed below in detail. Ina lock elision transaction system, aborting of a transaction may causethe transaction to attempt to obtain a lock on a memory region that isused by the transaction in order to retry the operationnon-transactionally in the event of repeated aborted transactions. Thespeculative obtaining of the lock may cause any other transactions thatuse the memory region to abort. Speculatively executing an abort for atransaction based on branch prediction may therefore cause the othertransactions to abort, even if the speculative execution of the originaltransaction's branch is later rolled back. Therefore, speculativeexecution of transactional abort handlers, which may be triggered by,for example, branch prediction or pipeline early branch guessing, isavoided.

Parallel programming may use synchronizing locks to protect execution ofcritical sections of code. Transactional execution using lock elisioncan be beneficial when threads typically do not conflict, i.e., thethreads either work on different parts of a critical section inparallel, or tend to not overlap at all. In lock elision, a giventransaction makes sure a global lock isn't already set when thetransaction begins, and aborts if the global lock is set duringexecution of the transaction. If the global lock is not set, the lockaddress is added to the transaction's read footprint, but the lock isnot set. With no contention, all critical section work is performed andtransactions end without any locking being performed by any of thetransactions. If a data conflict occurs, the transaction aborts due tothe transactional footprint being stored into by another process. For atransaction that has been aborted and retried repeatedly, anon-transactional abort handler may be invoked to obtain the lock inorder to complete the transaction and make forward progress. However,obtaining the lock aborts other transactions based on their footprints,and prevents the aborted transactions from resuming until the work ofthe locking transaction is completed and the lock released. Inspeculative abort handler execution, the abort handler is viewed as partof the transaction, which can pollute the footprint of the transactionand make aborts more likely. For transactions that implement lockelision, an initial branch instruction, which may be a mask branchinstruction, is evaluated to determine whether to invoke the aborthandler and obtain the lock; however, the branch instruction may startexecution of the abort handler speculatively based on branch predictionor early pipeline branch speculation of the direction of the branchinstruction. The speculatively aborting transaction gets exclusiveownership of the lock, which in turn can abort other concurrenttransactions since the lock address is part of their read footprint.

In an example of a speculative abort, an external interrupt may cause arandom abort of a particular transaction. When the particulartransaction aborts, other victim transactions may also abort due tospeculative conventional lock acquisition by the particular transaction.The branch prediction logic updates the history table based on the abortfor all of the transactions that abort, and speculatively directsexecution to abort in the future for both the particular transaction andthe victim transactions. Predicting and speculatively executing theabort handler based on the history table then causes the transactions toabort in the future, which strengthens the predictions in the historytable, causing further aborts. One random abort may therefore cause thebranch prediction logic to predict a branch to the abort handler on thenext occurrence. A non-predicted but incorrect early pipeline guess fora branch to an abort handler can have the same effect.

The branch prediction logic may therefore be prevented from gathering orupdating history on the conditional branch instruction that branches to,or around, the abort handler. Pipeline early branch guessing logic mayalso be prevented from triggering speculative execution of a transactionabort. This may be implemented in some embodiments by preventinginstallation of or blocking updates of entries in a branch history tablefor the conditional branch instruction, which may be located directlyafter the beginning of the transaction, e.g., TBEGIN. Some transactionsmay have the abort handler located in-line, while other transactionshave the abort handler located out-of-line; this may be indicated by thevalue of the condition code mask of the conditional branch that eitherredirects program flow to the transaction or abort handler. For example,in an embodiment with a four value condition code (or mask), where acondition code value of “1000” (in binary) represents a non-abortedtransaction and any other value represents an aborting scenario, theconditional branch to or around an abort handler representing an in-lineor out-lined abort transaction can be identified as follows: an in-lineabort transaction branches around the abort handler using a conditionalbranch with a mask of “1000” for a successful TBEGIN, whereas anout-lined abort transaction branches to the abort handler using a maskof “0111” for a failed or aborting TBEGIN. Therefore, for example, ifthe mask is “1000”, an in-line abort type transaction may be indicated,and the branch prediction and early pipeline guess logic may be forcedto only predict or guess the mask branch instruction as taken, avoidingspeculative execution of the in-lined abort handler. In a furtherexample, if the mask is “0111”, an out-of-line abort transaction may beindicated, and the branch prediction and early pipeline guess logic isprevented from predicting or guessing the mask branch instruction astaken, avoiding speculative execution of the out-lined abort handler.

Turning now to FIG. 1, a computer system 100 for speculative branchhandling for transaction abort is generally shown. Computer system 100includes a processor 101 and a memory 102. The processor 101 includes atransaction handling logic 103, a branch prediction logic 104 thatinclude a history table 105, an instruction pipeline 106, and pipelineearly branch guessing logic 108. Instruction pipeline 106 includes aplurality of pipeline stages, including but not limited to a fetch stage107A, a decode stage 107B, an execution stage 107C, and a completionstage 107D. During execution, instructions proceed sequentially throughthe pipeline stages 107A-D of the instruction pipeline 106. Branchprediction may be performed for a branch instruction based on historytable 105 by the branch prediction logic 104 or by the pipeline earlybranch guessing logic 108, and the predicted path of a predicted branchmay be speculatively executed at execution stage 107C. Branch predictionmay be performed by the branch prediction logic 104 based on the historytable 105 relatively early in the life cycle of a branch instruction;for example before the fetch stage 107A. When no prediction is made fora branch instruction by branch prediction logic 104, the pipeline earlybranch guessing logic 108 may predict the direction of the branchinstruction around the decode stage 107B. Then, at completion stage107D, the resolution of the branch is determined and it is determinedwhether the speculative execution of the branch instruction was correct.If the prediction was incorrect, the speculative execution of thepredicted path of the branch is rolled back, and the correct path of thebranch is executed based on the resolution. The history table 105 isupdated based on the resolution of the branch (i.e., to indicate whetherthe branch was taken or not taken) for use in future predictions whenthe branch is encountered again. Computer system 100 may also execute aplurality of transactions 109A-N, which are handled by transactionhandling logic 103. FIG. 1 is shown for illustrative purposes only; forexample, a computer system may execute any appropriate number oftransactions, and a pipeline may include any appropriate number and typeof stages.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a system 200 including a pluralityof transactions 201A-N and an abort handler 202. Transactions 201A-N maycomprise transactions 109A-N of FIG. 1. Transactions 201A-N comprise twoout-of-line abort transactions 201A and N, and one in-line aborttransaction 201B; however, these are shown for illustrative purposesonly, a set of transactions in a system such as system 200 may includeany appropriate number and type of transactions. Each of transactions201A-N includes an initial branch instruction comprising a mask branchinstruction that is located directly after the beginning of thetransaction (e.g., TBEGIN) and that is based on the value of the mask ofthe transaction, which may also be referred to as a condition code (CC).The value of CC may be 0 if the transaction has not been aborted andretried before, while the value of CC may be non-zero if the transactionhas been aborted and retried (i.e., if the current execution of thetransaction is a retry execution). The mask may also indicate whetherthe transaction is an in-line abort or out-of-line abort transaction. Inan out-of-line abort transaction such as transaction 201A, the branchabort command, which triggers abort handler 202, is performed if themask branch instruction, “if (CC!=0)”, is taken. In an in-line aborttransaction such as transaction 201B, the branch abort command,triggering abort handler 202, is performed if the mask branchinstruction, “if (CC=0)”, is not taken.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a method 300 for speculative branchhandling for transaction abort. FIG. 3 is discussed with reference toFIGS. 1 and 2. Method 300 may be implemented in transaction handlinglogic 103 in some embodiments. First, in block 301, the beginning of atransaction is detected by transaction handling logic 103 based on, forexample, a TBEGIN instruction, such as is shown in transactions 201A-Nof FIG. 2. Next, in block 302, the mask for the transaction is checked,and it is determined in block 303 whether the transaction is anout-of-line transaction (such as transaction 201A) or in-linetransaction (such as transaction 201B). If it is determined in block 303that the mask is indicates an out-of-line transaction, such astransaction 201A, the flow proceeds to block 304. In block 304, nobranch prediction is performed by either of the branch prediction logic104 or the pipeline early branch guessing logic 108 for thetransaction's mask branch instruction (for example, “if (CC!=0)”), so asto prevent the mask branch instruction from being predicted taken andthe branch abort instruction from being speculatively executed. Also, inblock 305, the history table 105 is not updated based on the resolutionof the mask branch instruction; i.e. if the mask branch instruction hasan entry in the history table 105, that entry is not updated, or if themask branch instruction does not have an entry in the history table 105,no new entry is created for the mask branch instruction.

If it is determined in block 303 that the mask is indicates an in-linetransaction, such as transaction 201A, the flow proceeds to block 306.In block 306, branch prediction for the transaction's mask branchinstruction (for example, “if (CC=0)”) is performed by, for example, thebranch prediction logic 104 or the pipeline early branch guessing logic108, but the predicted path of the mask branch instruction is onlyspeculatively executed if the mask branch instruction is predictedtaken, so as to prevent the branch abort instruction from beingspeculatively executed. In some embodiments of block 306, the branchprediction logic 104 or the pipeline early branch guessing logic 108 maybe forced to predict the mask branch instruction as taken based ondetermining that the transaction is an in-line transaction in block 303.Also, in block 307, the history table 105 is only updated based on theresolution of the mask branch instruction if the mask branch instructionis resolved as taken. Otherwise, if the mask branch instruction isresolved not taken, the history table 105 is prevented from beingupdated based on the resolution of the mask branch instruction; i.e. ifthe mask branch instruction has an entry in the history table 105, thatentry is not updated, or if the mask branch instruction does not have anentry in the history table 105, no new entry is created for the maskbranch instruction.

Technical effects and benefits include avoiding of speculative executionof transaction abort in a transactional memory system.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer implemented method for branch handlingfor transaction abort, the method comprising: detecting a beginning of acurrent execution of a transaction; based on detecting the beginning ofthe transaction, disabling speculative execution based on branchprediction of an initial branch instruction of the transaction, whereinthe initial branch instruction branches to one of two possible paths,and wherein a first path of the two possible paths comprises an aborthandler; disabling updating of a history table for the initial branchinstruction based on a mask branch instruction of the initial branchinstruction being resolved as not taken; and updating the history tablefor the initial branch instruction based on the mask branch instructionbeing resolved as taken.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the maskbranch instruction is evaluated based on a condition code of thetransaction, wherein the condition code indicates whether the currentexecution of the transaction is a retry after abort.
 3. The method ofclaim 2, wherein the condition code further indicates, for the currentexecution of the transaction that is the retry after abort, whether thetransaction comprises an in-line abort type transaction or anout-of-line abort type transaction.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein,for the out-of-line abort type transaction, the abort handler isexecuted if the mask branch instruction is taken.
 5. The method of claim3, wherein, for the in-line abort type transaction, the abort handler isexecuted if the mask branch instruction is not taken.
 6. The method ofclaim 5, further comprising, based on determining that the transactionis the in-line abort type transaction and the mask branch instructionnot being taken: only speculatively executing the mask branchinstruction if the mask branch instruction is predicted taken.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the transaction comprises one of a pluralityof transactions in a lock elision transaction system, wherein a secondpath of the two possible paths comprises a work section of thetransaction, and wherein the abort handler sets a lock for thetransaction.
 8. A computer program product for implementing branchhandling for transaction abort, the computer program product comprising:a non-transient computer readable storage medium having programinstructions embodied therewith, the program instructions readable by aprocessing circuit to cause the processing circuit to perform a methodcomprising: detecting a beginning of a current execution of atransaction; based on detecting the beginning of the transaction,disabling speculative execution based on branch prediction of an initialbranch instruction of the transaction, wherein the initial branchinstruction branches to one of two possible paths, and wherein a firstpath of the two possible paths comprises an abort handler; disablingupdating of a history table for the initial branch instruction based ona mask branch instruction of the initial branch instruction beingresolved as not taken; and updating the history table for the initialbranch instruction based on the mask branch instruction being resolvedas taken.
 9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein maskbranch instruction is evaluated based on a condition code of thetransaction, wherein the condition code indicates whether the currentexecution of the transaction is a retry after abort.
 10. The computerprogram product of claim 9, wherein the condition code furtherindicates, for the current execution of the transaction that is theretry after abort, whether the transaction comprises an in-line aborttype transaction or an out-of-line abort type transaction.
 11. Thecomputer program product of claim 10, wherein, for the out-of-line aborttype transaction, the abort handler is executed if the mask branchinstruction is taken.
 12. The computer program product of claim 10,wherein, for the in-line abort type transaction, the abort handler isexecuted if the mask branch instruction is not taken.
 13. The computerprogram product of claim 12, further comprising, based on determiningthat the transaction is the in-line abort type transaction and the maskbranch not being taken: only speculatively executing the mask branchinstruction if the mask branch instruction is predicted taken.
 14. Thecomputer program product of claim 8, wherein the transaction comprisesone of a plurality of transactions in a lock elision transaction system,wherein a second path of the two possible paths comprises a work sectionof the transaction, and wherein the abort handler sets a lock for thetransaction.
 15. A computer system for branch handling for transactionabort, the system comprising: a memory; and a processor, communicativelycoupled to said memory, the computer system configured to perform amethod comprising: detecting a beginning of a current execution of atransaction; based on detecting the beginning of the transaction,disabling speculative execution based on branch prediction of an initialbranch instruction of the transaction, wherein the initial branchinstruction branches to one of two possible paths, and wherein a firstpath of the two possible paths comprises an abort handler; disablingupdating of a history table for the initial branch instruction based ona mask branch instruction of the initial branch instruction beingresolved as not taken; and updating the history table for the initialbranch instruction based on the mask branch Instruction being resolvedas taken.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein the mask branchinstruction is evaluated based on a condition code of the transaction,wherein the condition code indicates whether the current execution ofthe transaction is a retry after abort.
 17. The system of claim 16,wherein the condition code further indicates, for the current executionof the transaction that is the retry after abort, whether thetransaction comprises an in-line abort type transaction or anout-of-line abort type transaction.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein,for the out-of-line abort type transaction, the abort handler isexecuted if the mask branch instruction is taken, and wherein, for thein-line abort type transaction, the abort handler is executed if themask branch instruction is not taken.
 19. The system of claim 18,further comprising, based on determining that the transaction is thein-line abort type transaction and the mask branch instruction not beingtaken: only speculatively executing the mask branch instruction if themask branch instruction is predicted taken.
 20. The system of claim 15,wherein the transaction comprises one of a plurality of transactions ina lock elision transaction system, wherein a second path of the twopossible paths comprises a work section of the transaction, and whereinthe abort handler sets a lock for the transaction.